Saturday, January 23, 2010

This morning I went to the hospital to round. As I was walking in, I ran into Dr. Prik, who'd parked in a handicapped space near the hospital entrance. He had a handicapped placard hanging from his rear view mirror.

He looked fine, but being a neurologist I know that many people who legitimately need handicapped spaces can look fine at first glance.

Dr. Grumpy: "You doing okay?"

Dr. Prik: "Yeah, fine. How about you?"

Dr. Grumpy: "Oh, I just saw the handicapped thing."

Dr. Prik: "Yeah. That was from when my wife broke her ankle a few years ago."

Dr. Grumpy: "I remember that."

Dr. Prik: "She's fine now. I just hold onto it. I hate having to walk too far to the building when I'm on call."

So, Dr. Prik, you hereby win the "Golden Asshole Physician Award" for your jackass sense of entitlement, and for your contributions to making the rest of us look like scum.

Also, you win the "Phailed Physically Phit" award for showing another reason as to why people are fat. Because YOU'D rather not burn a few extra calories, and at the same time ensure that someone who needs a decent space won't get one.

I used to wish I could get a 'temporary' need for close parking by the door placard when I was 8.5 months pregnant and then, again when baby was 8 months old until he could walk albeit slowly. It seems that I notice it a lot more when it's pouring cats and dogs as I'm doing some extensive after-work weekly grocery-shopping, just how much Handicapped parking is located by the supermarket door at 10 PM, too!

Anonymous: When I was healing a broken leg myself, I thought there should be a class of placards for people who'd feel guilty using the handicap spaces but nonetheless need a little consideration in this area. Also, handicap placards with big visible expiration dates on them for the temporarily impaired.

Speaking of which...my surgeon refused to give me a placard when I was healing my leg. His theory was that if I couldn't make it from a normal parking place I probably shouldn't be doing it. Kind of a shitty thing to do to a single person living alone, IMO.

Many states do have time limited handicap placards. I had (and truly needed) one for 3 months while recovering from a bad knee problem (AVN).

What I noticed using the handicapped parking is that the chances of finding an empty HP space were roughly the same as finding a regular spot somewhere in a lot. My state (MA) is fairly strict on enforcement so most cars in HP spots had placards.

What that confirmed is that the proportion of HP to all parking is roughly correct.

What an ass!!! I have a placard for my car because of my 2 adopted daughters who are MR and blind. I never use it unless they are both with me. Idiots like him make it harder for anyone who really needs one to get one and use a parking space. You should shoe polish his windows next time. :-)

Please, let me know where to find this putz. I will happily beat the living [censored] out of him with my cane while singing him songs of abusing rights of people that are not him.

On the other paw: In every state I've lived in there are two classes of handicapped placards. One are "permanent" and last 3-5 years, depending on the state. The other are "temporary" and last about 6 months. They have different colors so it's easier for cops to identify who is abusing an expired placard.

Lastly, if you can get the ID # of the placard & his license plate number the police just might keep an eye out for him, especially when you tell them the jerkwad even said it's an old placard he got from someone else.

Back a few years ago when I was an OT in Adelaide Australia I had to arrange for some handicapped parking permits. It was not possible to get a permit for a temporary disability unless the disability was expected to last more than 6 months but not be permanent. Therefore ordinary broken legs, ankles etc did not qualify.

If I were you I would be very tempted to report Dr Prik to whatever licensing authority issued the permit to have it revoked.

@Moose, RIGHT ON. I've always hated when people to stuff like this, but even more so now that I have a mother-in-law who is a double above the knee amputee, and NEEDS those spaces, particularly the onces that are van accessible. I've called security and the police on numerous vehicles in recent years, including most recently on some a**hat who parked his caddy over 2 HP spaces. TWO. grrrrrr

I used to occasionally deliver and pick up a friend who had been in a wheelchair since birth to the local community college. Waiting to pick him up in the handicapped lot was amusing, counting all of the "handicapped" lard asses who had gotten permits for no reason other than being jigglebutts.I wanted to do a commando raid to change the sign for the lot to "Fat Assed Parking Only".BTW they would get hysterical if I stopped to long while getting the wheelchair out of the Jeep and putting the wheels on.

I hope his staff reads this and has the balls to call him on it. If it were up to me, I'd also revoke his license to practice medicine on the grounds that rule #1 is primum non nocere. <--he's definitely violated that one by taking a space at a HOSPITAL where it likely would cause harm to those who need it not to have access to that parking.

Come to think of it, was he too stupid/cheap not to just use the hospital valet parking?! Or did he just (boo-hoo) not want to wait that long for his car?

He reminds me of the age-old joke: What's black, 8 inches long, and hangs in front of an asshole?

This just infuriates me. Yes he should be reported...to hospital security and the local PD. What an ASS.

And thank you for pointing out that many neurological patients look fine, but aren't and need the handicap spaces. My husband has peripheral neuropathy and has handicap plates for his vehicle and a placard for mine. You should see the looks we get from the elderly and he uses a cane. People have even told him that he wasn't handicapped ENOUGH to use the space and their wife/friend/husband needs it more. Geez these elderly people think that by virtue of age they are entitiled to those spaces exclusively. Believe me, he would gladly give up the "primo" space to have a life without pain.

A professor emeritus where I work asked me how he could park where I do (in a handicapped place right outside our building) because he was 70 --- keep in mind he also still runs triathalons. I told him, and I tell other people, if they had 1/10 the pain and problems I have, they could get a pass. I hate seeing students using their mothers/grandmothers/whoevers passes to park there.

As for that doctor --- I'd have reported him to security without a second's hesitation. What a moron.

You made a good point about how some people need that spot, and don't look handicapped. It's something for us to keep in mind.

My girlfriend has stage 4 cancer, and has a tag so she can park closer. She has diminished lung capacity,and is ill, but to look at the two of us - you'd never know. We got some looks after parking, but I just ignored them, because she definitely needed that spot.

axl, dude, you have ISSUES. Not every fat person with a handicapped placard has it "just" for being fat.

I'm truly amazed that you're able to do a medical diagnosis just by looking at the "jigglebutts" and know that there's nothing else wrong with their bodies but their size, which apparently offends you so greatly.

I was disabled long before I got very fat. I'm always amazed at the people -- some, even, doctors -- who tell me that my disability will be magically reversed if I just lose a little weight.

Just like neurology patients are sometimes invisibly disabled sometimes fat people are, too. Maybe you should think twice before making such generic assumptions.

axl - Can you be that crass? Have you ever heard of steroids? I had a perfectly fine body until I could no longer go without taking steroids. I feel bad enough about the way I look, without being judged by people like you.

Football player at my son's school has a placard. When I rolled my eyes at him and gave him the "SERIOUSLY???" face, he made a puffed-chest stride toward my car in a hilariously threatening manner. Now when he sees me looking at him, he attempts to feign a limp across the parking lot AWAY from the school, to join his crowd of buddies who congregate in the regular parking lots. But only if he sees me looking. Otherwise, it's practically a sprint over. I went to the CHP to report him, and they didn't raise an eyebrow. Not interested.

Welcome to my whining!

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